Dragons unveil Tonbridge sculptor's work

JUST under a year after he successfully braved the Dragons' Den, a Tonbridge sculptor displayed the artwork he won backing for last week.

Guy Portelli, 52, of St Mary's Road, opened his Pop Icons exhibition at The Mall Galleries last Wednesday with film crews, millionaires and a crowd of hundreds on hand to see the 18 pieces.

The opening of the exhibition, into which business moguls Peter Jones, Theo Paphitis and James Caan sunk £80,000, was broadcast live on BBC London Tonight.

Mr Portelli told the Kent and Sussex Courier he had not had time to get nervous during the glamorous launch.

"There were three camera crews and I was being dragged from one to another so we didn't have time to think about it really," he said.

"It's a great relief because it's been an intensive year and of course you just never know what's going to trip you up."

Now that the pieces are on display, Mr Portelli said he had managed to find out exactly what the stars of the BBC show thought of their investment.

"Obviously when they are on camera, they always say the official line," he said.

"We did speak to them afterwards though and they said they hadn't expected anything as good as we have done."

And it was not only the backers who were impressed with the sculptures, as Mr Portelli said the gathered crowd also offered him kind words.

"I think everybody was just really taken aback with the show," he said.

"It was the sort of show that you would expect to find at the really top notch venues where they have massive budgets."

As well as the 18 celebrity- inspired creations, a range of photographs and paintings relating to the subjects were displayed, making the value of the artwork on display some £700,000.

Despite the exhibition taking place in the capital, though, there was a very Tonbridge feel to the event, with strawberries laid on by Hugh Lowe Farms, the bar staff and waiters coming from the area and local firms Arcadia, Windsor Printing, Goodlands Engineering and Spa Aluminium playing their part.

Once the exhibition in London has finished, Mr Portelli has plans to take it further afield, starting with Manchester and Edinburgh and then possibly Berlin and Amsterdam.

And as well as the work involved with the pop icons show, Mr Portelli already has another large task on his hands – three nine-foot sculptures for Ringo Starr.

After months of work, a nerve-wracking appearance on a BBC show and the input of £80,000 of funding, Guy Portelli's Pop Icons show opened last week.

Here are the stars you can see his unique take on at the Mall Galleries...

Frank Sinatra, John Lee Hooker, Miles Davis, John Lennon, Led Zeppelin, Jimi Hendrix, The Who, Elton John, David Bowie, Bob Marley, Grace Jones, The Sex Pistols, Madonna, Bono, Sade, Tupac Shakur, the Spice Girls and Amy Winehouse.

The exhibition closes today (Friday).